Hundreds of thousands of immigrants took to the streets on Tuesday in protests in dozens of cities across the country. In Chicago, police said over 150,000 marched through downtown. In Phoenix, organizers put the crowd size at 100,000. In Milwaukee, Wisconsin, organizers estimated 60,000 took part in the city’s second annual civil rights march and boycott. Another 10,000 immigrants marched in Detroit and Denver. Los Angeles held two large protests on Tuesday. The afternoon protest in L.A. ended when police fired dozens of rubber bullets and tear gas into the peaceful crowd. Families with young children were forced to flee for their safety. Eyewitnesses said police gave little or no warning before firing the rubber bullets. The protests came on the first anniversary of last year’s historic May Day immigrant protests. In Los Angeles, organizer Norberto Martinez predicted protests over immigrant rights would continue.

Norberto Martinez: “It’s not an issue that will go away. We’re here. We’re here to stay. We’re not going anywhere, and we do need a solution, something that will give us permanent residency. If it doesn’t happen with the Bush administration now, it has to happen in the next administration.”